No. 2 ranked Marauders top Rams

TORONTO - The Ryerson Rams men's volleyball team had their three game win streak snapped by the No. 2 team in the nation on Wednesday night, falling 3-0 (23-25, 23-25, 28-30) to the McMaster Marauders at the Mattamy Athletic Centre.

The Rams found themselves down 16-12 at the first set technical timeout but a late rally got the home side back within one at 24-23. A strange play ended the set as an over ball from the Marauders went off the Ryerson block and out to give McMaster a 25-23 victory and 1-0 lead.

Ryerson's offence started to click in the middle of the second set and the Rams took a 16-11 lead into the technical timeout. McMaster erased the deficit and tied the set at 19-19 before some late serving miscues by the Rams gave the Marauders the points they needed to come back and win the set 25-23.

The Rams were able to establish an early lead in the third, taking a 12-8 lead and forcing an early Marauders timeout. Ryerson continued to lead 16-13 at the technical timeout and extended the lead to six at 21-15 but the experienced McMaster squad slowly chipped away at the lead and eventually tied the set at 22-22. The teams needed extra points to decide a winner but ultimately the Marauders came out with a 30-28 set win to complete the sweep.

"We tip our hats to them, they played really good down the stretch...[but] we know we can compete with them. We just have to eliminate these little mental erros and mental lapses," said middle blocker Uchenna Ofoha following the game.

Robert Wojcik (Whitby, Ont.) and Danny Demyanenko each had a game-high 13 kills for the Rams and Marauders, respectively.

Ryerson moves to 6-3 on the season and remain in third place while McMaster improves to 7-1 and move into a tie for first place in the standings. The Rams are back in action next Friday, November 28 when they host the Western Mustangs at 6:00 p.m.

Source: Ryerson Rams